It
seems Republicans moved off of the usual items, including hot anti-environment
rhetoric, to focus on opportunistic things like the police shootings, Benghazi,
fear, emails, Benghazi, fear, and Benghazi.

I wonder if the EPA and Al Gore just aren't scary enough to
feature.

Conversely,
the platform adopted
by the RNC has a solid six pages about the Environmental
Protection Agency, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Power Plan, nukes, and
the Democrats' cabal with "radical environmentalists."

My
favorite thing in the platform is the recommendation that EPA be downsized to
an "independent bipartisan commission."

The
Nuclear Regulatory Commission is offered up as a role model for how well this
works. Two of NRC's five commission posts are vacant, one of them for a year
and a half, because the White House and Senate are so bipartisan with each
other that the poor nominee can't get a hearing.

But
the platform stops short of the outright climate denial now practiced by so
many in the party leadership; it simply says that climate change is not a
national security priority.

Rep.
Marsha Blackburn, the Tennessee Congresswoman who went on a tear against
energy-efficient light bulbs a few years ago, jumped into the deep end of the
denial pool at a side event,
and I've seen several interesting stories and videos based on asking convention
delegates about climate.

I
wonder if this is a move-to-the-middle thing, or if the EPA and Al Gore just
aren't scary enough to feature.

A
final bit of unwelcome punditry: Trump's kids were actually very good speakers.
And his wife displayed a clever reuse-recycle talent for other people's
speeches. Trump was far from his reckless self in his speech Thursday night.

A
Trump presidency in 2017 is a much greater possibility if someone out there has
the ability to control the candidate's self-destructive habits. And with the
conclusion of the War On Ailes, someone who fits that description is available.

Thought for the day

You’d be forgiven if you hadn’t noticed. His verbal bombshells are louder than ever, but Donald J Trump is no longer president of the United States. By having no constructive response to any of the monumental crises now convulsing America, Trump has abdicated his office. He is not governing. He’s golfing, watching cable TV and tweeting…

In reality, Donald Trump doesn’t run the government of the United States. He doesn’t manage anything. He doesn’t organize anyone. He doesn’t administer or oversee or supervise. He doesn’t read memos. He hates meetings. He has no patience for briefings. His White House is in perpetual chaos.

Robert Reich

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